The recent trend toward the electrification of physical measuring devices has carried over into the health services field. Electronic timers for pulse taking, high power acoustic amplifiers for fetal heart sensing and electronic temperature sensors have become common place. One such electronic temperature sensor is disclosed in my co-pending application for an "Electronic Temperature Computer" Ser. No. 392,961, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,325, which utilizes a relatively inexpensive thermistor bead and an electronic prediction circuit to rapidly determine a patient's temperature. Although many of these prior systems utilized digital techniques the components and circuit elements were not available to permit both high-speed and miniaturization. For the most part, it was necessary to use discrete components and discrete logic elements when designing and fabricating these rather sophisticated health-oriented electronic circuits. Because of the size limitations it has not always been possible to include the desired number of functions in a single package.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved temperature sensor utilizing digital techniques.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved temperature sensor which sense temperature in a short period of time and provide an output in either centigrade or fahrenheit degrees.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved temperature sensor utilizing inexpensive thermistors and readily available electronic components.